Newsmakers

Damon groomed for success

Having gone for his Yankee clipping, Johnny Damon appeared with his hair trimmed and beard shorn to inherit the job made famous by the Yankee Clipper.

New York's battles with Boston have been decided by a whisker in recent years, and Damon's whiskers were in the news Friday, when he finalized his $52 million, four-year contract to leave the Red Sox and put on the pinstripes for the first time.

His long locks and facial hair were shorn a day earlier at Salon Ishi on Manhattan's East Side by a stylist identified as " Chantal." Damon's wife, Michelle, looked on as the 32-year-old complied with the code of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

"First of all, what do you guys think about this?" Damon said, stroking his barren chin as he looked at photographers. "Obviously, keep on snapping away."

Damon's hair was slightly over the collar of his green-gray suit, which had light blue stripes. He wore a two-tone blue shirt but did not wear a tie, and his sideburns were perhaps slightly longer than the Boss would have preferred.

"I was thinking about cutting my hair right after the season," Damon said, going on to explain why he waited. "I knew if I came here it would be a big deal."

Steinbrenner, baseball's sartorial equivalent of Hammurabi, seemed pleased with his new center fielder.

"He looks like a Yankee, he sounds like a Yankee and he is a Yankee," Steinbrenner said in a statement.

Damon's decision to bolt Boston was stunning. Fans loved his hustle, which combined with his looks to spark cult-like devotion. In 2004, he helped the Red Sox win their first World Series title since 1918.

Aldine hosting elite basketball squads

Seven of the country's top 25 high school teams will be under one roof beginning Wednesday.

The Academy National Invitational basketball tournament, which runs Wednesday through Friday at Aldine ISD's Campbell Center, features seven of USA Today's top 25 high school basketball teams, including No. 2-ranked Oak Hill, alma mater of Denver Nuggets guard Carmelo Anthony. And in this year's national division, Bellaire and Kingwood will represent the Houston area. It's just the second time in the tournament's five-year history that two local teams are featured in the national bracket.

The Texas division features No. 11-nationally ranked Westfield, as well as state-ranked Aldine, Hightower and Wheatley.

Tickets for the tournament are $10 per day and can be purchased at the Campbell Center beginning Monday.

Big & Rich land gig before Rose Bowl

The country group Big & Rich has a date for the Rose Bowl.

The group, known for a "hick-hop" style that blends rock, rap and country music, will play at ESPN's National Championship Tailgate, a fan fest in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 4. The party ends just before the start of the Southern California-Texas game to decide the national college football title.

Big & Rich sold more than 2 million copies of their major label debut, "Horse of a Different Color."